Question

You are the accountant for the Best Outdoor Living company which manufactures various outdoor furniture. The furniture is sold by specialty stores and through internet outlets. You are responsible for reviewing costs and creating standards costs based on the information you have reviewed. One of your former colleagues has recently started a company to collect and sell data on industry benchmarks. You are offered the chance to receive benchmarks from other outdoor furniture companies for free if you will provide the standard and actual costs for the last three years of your company. As creation of the standards is a tedious process, you feel this data would be helpful in your job. Review the IMA’s ethical guidelines, under Reading Preparation and identify the conflict with the guidelines. What are the relevant factors in this situation and how you should handle this, and what you would recommend to the Controller

Answer 1

The IMA guidelines on sharing of onfidential information is as reproduced below

II. CONFIDENTIALITY 1. Keep information confidential except when disclosure is authorized or legally required. 2. Inform all relevant parties regarding appropriate use of confidential information. Monitor to ensure compliance. 3. Refrain from using confidential information for unethical or illegal advantage.

Considering the above I would recommend to the Controller that if the former colleague collects data on anonymous basis thorugh online submission without the name of the company being disclosed, then the data can be shared. Ofcourse this should be done only after getting into a contractual agreement.